Fine soil from the Southwest is robbing the Colorado River of critical snowmelt. A scientist who monitors dust’s impact on snow wants state and federal leaders to take a closer look.
Tracy Ross
Tracy Ross writes about the intersection of people and the natural world, industry, social justice and rural life from the perspective of someone who grew up in rural Idaho, lived in the Alaskan bush, reported in regions from Iran to Ecuador and as a parent of kids growing up during the age of accelerated climate change.
Before coming to The Colorado Sun, she was a correspondent for Outside Magazine, an editor at both Backpacker and Skiing magazines, and the author of the critically lauded memoir The Source of All Things, about overcoming child abuse through connection with and adventure in the outdoor world.
She is the co-producer of a movie — Hard Miles — based on her Bicycling Magazine story Street Kids, about boys from a school for adjudicated youth in Colorado who she rode to the Grand Canyon with in 2014.
She lives in Nederland with her husband, 12-year-old daughter, Hollis, and, occasionally, her two grown sons, Scout and Hatcher.
Topic expertise: I specialize in stories affecting rural communities, from energy development to recreation to affordable housing and hunting. I also write about the outdoor economy, sports and culture. And whenever possible I dip my toe in arts that intersect with rural communities and the outdoors. I have a strong interest in social justice.
Location: Nederland, former land of Frozen Dead Guy Days current Carousel of Happiness
Education: It took me 12 years and four colleges to graduate because I kept getting distracted by real world adventures. But schools: Cornish College of the Arts, St. John's College (Santa Fe), University of Alaska Fairbanks, CU Denver (graduated at 30 while pregnant with my first kid). Also: I attended Interlochen Arts Academy (boarding school) for part of my high school, which had perhaps more impact on my life and education than any higher education.
Honors & Awards: National Magazine Award in essay category 2009 (beating Harpers, The New Yorker, and Antioch Review). Lowell Thomas award for investigative journalism 2015. I consider getting a book deal in 2009 an award. Multiple inclusions or notable mentions in Best American Sports Writing, Best American Travel Writing and Best American Magazine Writing.
Contact:
X (Formerly Twitter): @writertracyross
Instagram: @heli_girl_1970
Facebook: Tracy Ross
Posted inOutdoors
A newly approved boat-in campground hopes to make rafting the Colorado River more accessible
Kampa Lampa Campground is set to open in early August. Owner Kathy Haas says marketing will be “no problem.”
Posted inHousing
How a Colorado college is using rapid rehousing to help its students experiencing homelessness
Fort Lewis College’s first-in-state program served 108 students in its inaugural year.
Posted inEconomy
5 years in, Opportunity Zone investments in Colorado are yielding important dividends
Ranked second in the nation for program success, Colorado is a billion dollars richer in projects, with rural towns and cities both reaping the bounty
Posted inEnvironment
Recreation or conservation? The battle being waged around Fort Collins’ old Hughes Stadium.
Against the backdrop of the land battle where Colorado State football was once played is how open space is disappearing across the West
Posted inBusiness
How to retain resort employees? Colorado ski areas are building workforce housing — at the resorts
Like nearly every Colorado ski hill, Winter Park needed big money to help fix its employee housing problem. Enter its deep pocketed operator, Alterra, with a blueprint others can follow.
Posted inOutdoors
Want to float one of the West’s most popular rivers? You have roughly a 2% chance of getting a permit.
Nearly 60,000 people applied to raft the West’s four most popular rivers in 2022. The boating community says the federal government’s process to administer permits is broken.
Posted inOutdoors
Mountain lion claws man hot-tubbing in Colorado high country
The attack happened Saturday night near Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort
Posted inBusiness
Will Frozen Dead Guy Days stay true to its roots as it moves to the ritzy Stanley Hotel in Estes Park?
As the festival starts its new life this weekend, will Visit Estes Park’s mission to “professionalize it” improve it or ruin it?
Posted inOutdoors
Pike-San Isabel had an agenda when it banned off-roading on some national forest roads, lawsuit claims
The process was driven by extremist environmental groups and anti-motorized activists within the forest service, plaintiff Patrick McKay says